Description

This book develops the concept of "gamble-play media", describing how some gambling and gambling-like practices are increasingly mediated by digital technologies. Digital gambling brings gambling closer to the practices and features of videogames, as audio-visual simulations structure users’ experiences. By studying digital gambling from media studies, videogame and cultural studies approaches, this book offers a new critical perspective on the issues raised by computer-mediated gambling, while expanding our perspective on what media and gambling are. In particular, it critically analyses terrestrial, mobile and online slot machines, online poker and stock trading apps through a selection of case studies.

Reviews

"I am thrilled to recommend a book that is essential reading for students and scholars working across gambling and gaming studies. At last, we have a rigorous, creative and thought-provoking study to help us make sense of proliferating platforms and products that are blurring the lines between entertainment and investment in everyday life. Albarrán-Torres’ concept of ‘digital gamble-play’ is quite literally a game-changer." --Fiona Nicoll , Research Chair in Gambling Policy with the Alberta Gambling Research Institute and the Department of Political Science at University of Alberta, Canada

Table of Contents

Preface: The VIP Lounge

Introduction. Digital gambling as media

Part I. Gamble-play theory

1. Towards a theory of gamble-play

2. Smoke and mirrors: procedural rhetoric in gamble-play

3. Gamble-play media and practices of consumption

Part II. Gamble-play platforms

4. Gamble-play and popular culture: when slots meet Hollywood

5. Gamble-play as Second Life: the case of PKR

6. Mobile gamble-play apps: a casino in your pocket

7. Gambling with markets: stock trading apps and the logic of gamble-play

Postface: Gamble-play in the societies of control

About the Author

César Albarrán-Torres is Lecturer in Media and Communications at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia.

About the Series

This series is our home for innovative research in the field of digital media. It includes monographs and targeted edited collections that provide new insights into this subject as its influence and significance grow into the twenty-first century.